India v Sri Lanka, 1st ODI, Kolkata

'We did very well to pick up three wickets' - Dravid

Anand Vasu in Kolkata

February 8, 2007

'It was most heartening to see him come back so strongly after a long injury lay-off' - Rahul Dravid was all praise for Munaf Patel © Getty Images

In the short period where play was possible there was one big gain for India as Munaf Patel, recovering from an injury to the ankle of his landing foot, bowled seven overs without any obvious discomfort. What's more, he was easily the most effective of the bowlers on display, getting movement in the air and hitting the right areas, troubling batsmen.

Munaf, who picked up 2 for 25 from seven overs, nailing Upul Tharanga and Mahela Jayawardene, came in for praise from Rahul Dravid who addressed a brief press conference shortly after play was called off just after 8.30pm. "Munaf bowled extremely well today and I am delighted," Dravid said, soon after walking off the field where he inspected conditions along with umpires Simon Taufel and Suresh Shastri, and Jayawardene. "He hit the right areas, the right line and length straight from the word go. It was most heartening to see him come back so strongly after a long injury lay-off. With the amount of cricket that lies ahead of us, that is a very encouraging sign."

But while Patel's return to full bowling fitness was a high note for India, their two other mediumpacers were distinctly off colour. Zaheer Khan went for 32 in his five overs and S Sreesanth was even more expensive conceding 36 in 4.2 overs. "It was a very good batting track," Dravid said. "All credit to Sanath Jayasuriya for the way he batted in favourable conditions. In the end, we did very well to pick up three wickets."

When asked about the abandonment of the match Dravid's answer was along expected lines. "It was most disappointing that the game had to end indecisively. The ground authorities did a great job to try and get the ground ready for play, but the conditions were not good enough for play to continue," said Dravid, who appeared to slip on a wet patch just near the practice pitches when he went out for the final inspection. "I do feel for the huge crowd, but there was no option but to abandon the match."

Anand Vasu is assistant editor of Cricinfo

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